Financial stress takes its toll

THREE out of every four South Africans are financially stressed, up from last year, with women in particular confessing to the consequences of financial stress at home, work, and on their health.

Lower-income individuals are the most anxious, whereas those with higher incomes have high amounts of unsustainable debt.

These constitute a few of the results from DebtBusters’ second annual Money Stress Tracker, a study of how financial stress impacts other parts of South African’s lives.

The online poll had more than 35 000 responses from customers not already in debt counselling.

Seventy-eight percent of respondents stressed about money (up from 70% in 2022) said it was damaging their personal life, 78% their professional life, and 77% their health – a strong sign that money stress leads to other sorts of stress.

Sixty-two percent of the middle class have unsustainable debt levels.

The biggest concern of half of those polled was running out of money before the end of the month. “There’s more month than money,” one said.

Since last year, there has been a 22% increase in the number of people concerned about their ability to make monthly debt repayments.

Overall, 70% of respondents spent more than 30% of their after-tax income on debt repayment; however the poll indicated that individuals earning more than R20 000 a month had the highest debt payback burden.

Sixty-two percent of respondents earning more than R20 000 had unsustainable debt levels. This income bracket represents the backbone of middle-class people. |